In a conventional wheel hub, a braking device, such as a brake drum, is mounted coaxially on the wheel hub by wheel bolts. Misalignment between the brake drum and the wheel hub can cause various problems, such as vibration, shimmy, premature wear and/or failure of the brake drum. These problems can occur even if the brake drum is off-center by only 1/16th of an inch, which is too small to visually detect.
Wheel hubs are often formed with pilots that provide a radial guide surface to assist in the proper installation and alignment of the brake drum on the wheel hub. An example of a wheel hub pilot is disclosed in Pete et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,890,567, entitled “Brake Drum Mounting,” which is incorporated herein by reference. To ensure proper alignment, such wheel hub pilots are manufactured with a tolerance of thousandths of an inch.
The wheel hub pilots can become dented, scraped or otherwise damaged during installation of the brake drum on the wheel hub. Lightweight aluminum wheel hubs are particularly prone to pilot surface damage. Such damage can cause misalignment of the brake drum and result in the various problems described above. Thus, there is a need for an accurate pilot guide surface that is relatively inexpensive to produce and is resistant to damage during installation of a braking device.